[role="xpack"]
[[watcher-api-activate-watch]]
=== Activate Watch API

A watch can be either
{xpack-ref}/how-watcher-works.html#watch-active-state[active or inactive]. This
API enables you to activate a currently inactive watch.

The status of an inactive watch is returned with the watch definition when you
call the <<watcher-api-get-watch, Get Watch API>>:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
GET _xpack/watcher/watch/my_watch
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE
// TEST[setup:my_inactive_watch]

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "found": true,
  "_id": "my_watch",
  "status": {
    "state" : {
      "active" : false,
      "timestamp" : "2015-08-20T12:21:32.734Z"
    },
    "actions": ...,
    "version": 1
  },
  "watch": ...
}
--------------------------------------------------
// TESTRESPONSE[s/2015-08-20T12:21:32.734Z/$body.status.state.timestamp/]
// TESTRESPONSE[s/"actions": \.\.\./"actions": "$body.status.actions"/]
// TESTRESPONSE[s/"watch": \.\.\./"watch": "$body.watch"/]
// TESTRESPONSE[s/"version": 1/"version": $body.status.version/]

You can activate the watch by executing the following API call:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
PUT _xpack/watcher/watch/my_watch/_activate
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE
// TEST[setup:my_inactive_watch]

The new state of the watch is returned as part of its overall status:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "status": {
    "state" : {
      "active" : true,
      "timestamp" : "2015-09-04T08:39:46.816Z"
    },
    "actions": ...,
    "version": 1
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// TESTRESPONSE[s/2015-09-04T08:39:46.816Z/$body.status.state.timestamp/]
// TESTRESPONSE[s/"actions": \.\.\./"actions": "$body.status.actions"/]
// TESTRESPONSE[s/"version": 1/"version": $body.status.version/]